hello tweets.

christine vadai and i went to the other side of the state in
search of whooping swans. we did not find whooping swans (bummer)
but we did have the most amazing experience!

despite the fact that the weather was awful, as usual, in seattle
when we left at 600am, the entire day was splendid on the eastern
side of the cascade mountains! the bluebird-colored skies were full
of the bright promise of springtime, and the sun's rays kept the
wind's cold chill away.

the landscape was absolutely stunning. tall fortresses of columnar
basalt towered above the red earth, flat rocky heads crowned
with blue-green sage brush. at the feet of these giants are clear
cold ponds, mirrored faces reflecting the heavens. sometimes, it
seemed as though i was standing on a thin edge of earth, looking
out at endless sky stretching out above and below me: it was
magical.

upon these thousands of prairie mirrors, we saw many hundreds of
gently bobbing ducks and geese. in fact, i saw more cackling canada
geese and winter-plumaged ruddy ducks on this day than i have seen
in my entire life! and of course, a fair number of the elegant
canvasback (i stopped counting after 50) were snoozing or gliding
across these prairie marshes and ponds. we also saw other favorite
birds of mine; loons. even in winter plumage, these lovely birds
always captivate and delight me.

despite hours of diligent searching, christine and i did not find
the object of our desire; the whooping swan. as the day was turning
to night time, we did finally see the snow-white forms of four
trumpeter swans flying low over our heads through the gathering dusk.
then, after the sun had fled the skies, we finally found an owl; a
great horned owl sat upon a power pole next to the roadside, looking
over her shoulder at us with bored amusement. (we parked next to this
owl's perch in a roadside ditch that ended up being muddier and
deeper than we expected, so christine's faithful little pickup truck
kicked up mud when we sped away for home).

but the best sighting of all wasn't a bird: it was a bobcat. we were
leaving the columbia wildlife refuge, driving slowly and talking about
"birder's kharma" when i saw the large grey face of a bobcat in the
brush immediately next to the side of the road. i remember telling
christine to "BACK UP! BACK UP! BACK UP!" and then we were next to
the bobcat, who appeared surprised to see us back so soon. the bobcat
walked nonchalantly out of the brush and alongside the road as i
eagerly popped out of the truck and slapped my binoculars to my face,
revealing an amazingly close-up view of the cat's tail, curling and
uncurling as she walked. the cat paused for a moment, and looked back
at me standing in the road, no doubt resembling a bobcat's idea of a
thanksgiving dinner. then the cat turned and loped across the road,
powerful muscles bulging and sliding under its soft grey fur, and
disappeared into the brush on huge velvety feet.

and so a moment of my life was framed, defined and shaped into an
extraordinary experience that will probably never come to me again.
a powerful moment emblazoned upon my memory, cherished forever.

we saw 56 species and subspecies of birds and drove more than 500
miles total (christine did all the driving, wow, she's amazing!).
our trip list follows, for those who might be interested;

Red-throated Loon - Fort Okanogan
Pacific Loon - Columbia River south of Brewster
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Horned Grebe
Western Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Trumpeter Swan - 4 at Columbia NWR
Canada Goose
Cackling Canada Goose, hundreds near Dry Falls
American Wigeon
Gadwall
Mallard
Northern Pintail - Soap Lake
Northern Shoveler
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Barrow's Goldeneye
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck - hundreds in Columbia River!!
Bald Eagle - 2 adults on Columbia River
Northern Harrier - lots
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk - one adult at Ft Okanogan
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk - including one dark morph adult, two juvs.
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl - one at Potholes
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker - one male at Ft Okanogan
Northern Flicker - lots, all red-shafted
Northern Shrike - one at Dry Falls
American Robin
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Spotted Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
American Goldfinch
Cassin's Finch - one male near E Wenatchee
House Finch
House Sparrow
European Starling
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven - tons

Mammals:
Bobcat!! at Columbia NWR

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
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